Hi,

I currently have some issues that suddenly appeared after a potential error on my part (more further down)
I am running Vista and Office 2007 Small Business on my laptop.

1) My Outlook 2007 no longer opens. I just get the blank blue screen with the yellow Outlook 2007 stamp and I can't close it normally. When I force it closed via Task manager and then try again, I get an option to start in Safe mode, and I can open it in safe mode. From there I ran the diagnostics option under the help menu. No issues reported. I don't know what else I can do from within Outlook in Safe mode to rectify things ?

I ran the repair option for the Office 2007 package from the Add and remove window under the Control panel, but the Outlook start issue remains.

2) The other issue I've noted is that 50-70 % of CPU capacity is constantly used up by SearchIndexer.exe. No corresponding disc activity indicated though.
This also affects the general performance speed of the laptop of course.

Now, to my "potential error"

From an previous laptop running XP I remembered being able to improve processing performance by specifying the Virtual memory to be located on a different disk from the one where the OS is. So I tried doing the same in Vista, and after a restart I got the problems above. All other programs seem to work fine (although a bit slower), including other Office components.
Trying to remember what I actually did, and in what sequence, I am not 100 % sure that I actually closed Outlook 2007 before implementing the change in location of the Virtual memory.
I've reset the Virtual memory setting as they were originally, but Office 2007 still won't open, other than in safe mode.

I'm hoping someone has a quick and simple solution for me

Or will I have to remove and reinstall the complete Office package ?

Grateful for suggestions

Update:

I note also that when IE8 starts it now every time displays the warning that when last used it was not terminated normally and gives the choice to open the normal start page, or to re-open the last used sites. (Although when I close down IE8 it closes without any special message or problem, quite normally)

This makes me suspect that my issue may be a Vista issue rather than just an Outlook 2007 problem.
I'll create a brief post in the Microsoft Windows forum with a link to this thread,

Hi

I created a posting in the Outlook forum, because I originally believed it to be an Oitlook 2007 issue only.
I've now come to suspect that it may in fact be a virtual memory setting issue in Windows Vista, so I therefore provide the link below to the Outlook forum post, in the hope that someone in this forum may be able to help.

Outlook forum link:
Topics merged

Grateful for any help.

This post has been edited by appleoddity: Jul 31 2009, 11:48 AM

Hi Kgu.

I merged your two topics together and moved them to the Windows forum seems how they are covering multiple topics and are tied together. It doesn't help to have two different people working on the "same" problem in two threads.

There are two things to do here.

First, determine which add-on is causing the problem in Microsoft Outlook:

http://www.brighthub.com/office/collaborat...cles/21842.aspx

Look for non-microsoft addons and disable them until Outlook will start in normal mode again.

Second, scan your hard drive for bad sectors:

click start -> programs -> accessories. Right-click "Command Prompt," click "Run As Administrator." At the command prompt type chkdsk /r and press ENTER. Answer 'Y'es when questioned about scheduling a scan during the next restart. Reboot your computer and be patient while chkdsk runs. Keep your eyes open for messages about "Windows replacing bad clusters..." during stages 4 and 5.

Your indexing problem most likely stems from a bad sector and a possibly corrupt file now. If there are sufficent bad sectors the hard drive may be failing and may be related to your Outlook problem.

OK,

I've disabled all non Moirosoft add-on's in Outlook and re-booted, but the behaviour is the same.
I also ran the chkdsk which reported no problems.

As the SearchIndexer.exe takes up so much CPU capacity I have looked around for suggestions, and tried the option to inactivate the Windows search service. After doing this, everything seems to work OK again. Is this a safe "solution" that won't cause me other problems down the line ?

I tried setting the indexing service to start with delay, and I tried setting it to start manually, but both options caused the same problems with Outlook, as well as with the SearchIndexer using so much CPU.

At least I don't really use the quick search in Outlook, but I am still concerned that my impulsive attempt at changing the location of the virtual memory file has caused consequences elsewhere

Just verify that your paging file is located on the C: drive and is set to system managed size. There really isn't any lasting effects of messing this setting up that I know of. Just put it back to the way it was.

As far as disabling the searchindexer, its probably fine. I'm not entirely sure on the side effects of this. This process is part of the Windows Desktop Search I believe which sneaks its way onto XP computers also and I delete, delete, delete whenever I get the chance. However, on Vista, I think it is built in (thanks Microsoft! Just what I wanted.) But, I am curious, if you go into add/remove programs, is Windows Search, or Windows Desktop Search listed?

When you say that chkdsk reported no problems, do you mean that it briefly popped up and said that the drive does not need to be checked? Or, did it take a long time, and actually scan the drive for bad sectors going through 5 different stages? (Maybe more on Vista.)

Please disable all the add-ons in Outlook until you find the culprit. If Outlook runs in safe mode, this is about all it can be.

This post has been edited by appleoddity: Aug 1 2009, 08:18 AM

Well,

I am not entirely sure what "paging file" is. (My system is in Swedish language and I'm uncertain about the correct translation)
Anyway, in the system properties setting, where the location and managing of the virtual memory is specified, it is set to be on the C drive, and to be managed automatically.
I did for a short whila have it on my D drive, but since that's when Outlook started to act up, I changed it back to C in the hope that Outlook would behave correctly again, which it didn't ...

Windows Search is not listed under add / remove in the Control panel. (I inactivated the Windows Search via the services.msc window).

When I ran chkdsk at statup it very quickly reported that there are no issues. It did not perform a lengthy multi stage process.
I do recall though that some inconsistency was recently reported but this was also repaired. Must have been around the same time the problems started, possibly shortly before.
How can I start a complete chkdsk and override the immediate result report ?

In Outlook I've disabled 3 non Microsoft add ons, but that had no effect on the issue. Do you think I need to disable also the Microsoft add ons ?

Thanks for your patience and help !

A short update:

I disabled ALL add ons in Outlook 2007, including Microsoft's own.
That did not make any differences I'm afraid.

I've also tried inactivating all entries in the autostart for Windows Vista. That also makes no difference.

If I set the Windows Search to Automatic, to Automatic (delayed start), or to Manual, I am not able to open Outlook except in safe mode.
I have to close the program via theTask manager. I noticed that i the confirmation request from Task manager, it says that the program is waiting for an answer from me ??

If I set Windows Search as Inactivated, I have no problem with Outlook at all.

Hope this may give some clues ?

Yeah.. I thought you may have hinted at the fact that Outlook was running when searchindexer.exe was disabled, but I wasn't sure of that. Thanks for clarifying.


Please read through this thread and try some of the suggestions and see if they help you identify anything further. It is very long and there are several knowledgeable people with some valuable information in there.

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en...3e-dcca7939e8b4

I would suggest that you first get the surface scan done on your hard drive.

You can read here about how to access the system recovery options that is probably pre-installed on your computer:

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/e...351033.mspx#EHF

Expand the section, "How do I access the system recovery options menu," and follow the instructions for pre-installed computers.

Once you get to the system recovery options menu you can open a "command prompt." At the command prompt you can try the chkdsk /r command again. If that does not force the scan, try chkdsk /r /p. Note that there are spaces before those /r and /p flags.

Doing the chkdsk from the "recovery console," is a better way anyways because you'll get to see more detail about what is happening without it scrolling off the screen and being gone forever.

If the surface scan finds any "bad clusters," then this could be one of the problems with the searchindexer.


This post has been edited by appleoddity: Aug 1 2009, 09:54 AM

I managed to run the full chkdsk with all the 5 steps. Still no errors reported.

From the link you provided it seems that "my problem " may be a rather widepread issue ?

For now, I think I'll just leave the Windows search service inactivated and just hope that it doesn't create any major issues elsewhere.

If it is a known issue, Microsoft might even (eventually) provide a solution ...

Again, thanks for your help and advice.